04/09/08 Ag Secretary defends research cuts

Washington Ag April 9, 2008 Concern was expressed Tuesday at a Senate appropriations hearing regarding USDA's proposed budget cuts in research for fiscal 2009. Those 185 million dollars in cuts include the closure of the ARS Land Management and Water Conservation Unit at Pullman. Six scientists are in the unit, which is working on such things as biofuels and alternative crops, air quality and controlling wind blown dust, organic farming systems and carbon sequestration. At the Senate hearing Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer defended USDA's proposed reductions overall. Schafer: "In an effort to look at our limited resources and how they can mostly wisely be spent. Most of those are earmarks for specific facilities and specific programs. As we looked at the budget recognizing that we do have some constraints if we are going to put us on a pathway to balance the budget by 2012, we wanted to make sure we played our part in that." Schafer says a better use of the research money that is left in the budget would be for competitive grants for certain high priority projects. In its summer fuels outlook the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration projects diesel prices to average $3.62 a gallon this year noting that in many regions its already crossed the $4 mark. I'm Bob Hoff.